This one travels to Castle Rock State Park. (All my columns are archived here at the Merc site if you’d like to bookmark the page.) Hikes: Castle Rock State Park’s sandstone holds visitors in thrall Castle Rock State Park is…
California state parks
A fine day at Henry Coe
by tmangan • May 13, 2007 • 1 Comment
Every year around Mother’s Day, Mike and Kathy take their hiking club out to Henry Coe State Park, where wildflowers tend to still be in bloom and the weather’s pleasant enough that the park’s hills can be survived without keeping…
Steep Ravine, Matt Davis trails, Mount Tamalpais summit
by tmangan • February 20, 2007 • 4 Comments
Mount Tamalpais is the biggest hill in Marin County, which is just over the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. I’ve been meaning to check out the trails there pretty much since I first began hiking, but the long drive…
Sizing up Mount Sizer
by tmangan • February 17, 2007 • 1 Comment
The idea of having 80-some thousand acres all to yourself is hard to get your head around — it’s not like you can act on such knowledge. Heck, it’d take 20 years to explore it all on foot, and while…
Three peaks at Mount Diablo
by tmangan • January 21, 2007 • 4 Comments
I get some of my best ideas in the shower. Sunday morning I was somewhere between the wash and rinse cycles when I realized I had to go to Mount Diablo, hike up to a knob at about 3,000 feet…
Fall Creek Unit: Cold like January creek water
by tmangan • January 14, 2007 • 2 Comments
It’s the kind of idea that sounds so absurd that it must be tried out. The past few days have been among the coldest on record in the Bay Area. Even though these temperatures dipping into the high 20s sound…
The long view
by tmangan • January 7, 2007 • 1 Comment
“Is that the Sierra over there?” I asked. “Has to be,” Vindu replied. We were on that great rarity at Mount Diablo State Park – a relatively flat stretch of trail — and had just finished a mildly excruciating climb…
Why Castle Rock, uh, rocks
by tmangan • November 19, 2006 • 0 Comments
Castle Rock State Park is not my favorite place to hike. Not even in my Top 3 (Henry Coe, Big Basin, Sunol Wilderness) … too many people, too few butt-buster trails. I’ve gone there twice in the past three weeks…
Forest of Nisene Parks State Park: A good day to be in the woods
by tmangan • November 12, 2006 • 1 Comment
So I arrive at a municipal parking lot in Los Gatos where I’m supposed to meet my fellow hikers and I see some folks milling about. They look gray-haired and respectable, so I park the Hiker Hauler and wander over.…